Monday, August 25, 2014

'I see booties! They're rubber. You can use them like galloshes, but they're easier to slip your feet into. Make them strange looking enough that people will realize they're for private, in-home use, not to wear to the market. Did I mention the feet holes must be extra large? And what's great is when you're done cleaning you can cut a whole in the toes and use them as pipes.'

If a dessert represented your home state, what would it be? I'm from Minnesota. I say that s'mores and lemon bars generally represent the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Slate Magazine disagrees (slightly). Writer L.V. Anderson tasked herself with naming official desserts for all 35 states (15 of them already had them). According to her, seven layer bars represent Minnesota don't cha know! She may be right on this one. Seven layer bars made appearances at every church event, funeral, holiday party, and potluck I attended growing up in the ice box state. Apparently Germans and Scandinavian Americans love the combination of chocolate chips and coconut.

Friday, August 22, 2014

We get keys to our new, one bedroom apartment tomorrow. I've been freaking out about how we'll fit all of our stuff into the space. While it has more cupboard space in the kitchen than our current abode, it's sorely lacking in closets. (Plus we found a guinea pig dumped on the grass a few weeks ago, which means we now have a gigantic cage on IKEA tables, a plastic bin full of hay and pellets, a stockpile of polar fleece, and (truly the piece de resistance) a full size plastic trash can for her refuse.) I wonder where the hell we're going to put her items, plus our books, coolers, ironing board, mini Christmas tree, box of ornaments, framed art, my husband's office furniture, electronics, volleyball net, and his knick knacks from his Army days. But, I digress.

Every wall in our new apartment is white. I'd like to spruce things up with adhesive wall decals. I am thinking of buying origami wall flowers by MyVinilo USA. They remind me of a Korean bojagi pattern. I can even select my own custom colors!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

In the 1920s and 30s, Hoosier cabinets helped homeowners (read: the woman of the house) to stay organized in the kitchen. Everything was off the floor allowing easy sweeping and mopping. (I get a serious case of the willies thinking about spaces under modern-day stoves and refrigerators.) My dad uses a Hoosier cabinet base and table in his art studio. Someday I hope to inherit these pieces.

If you had to cast an actor or actress to portray you in a movie, who would you choose? While writing features on three colleagues, I asked two females and one male this question. Their answers were Scarlett Johansson, Kristen Bell, and Daniel Radcliffe. Fascinating to me is that all three colleagues are Asian American. Apparently their essences can best be captured by blondes and a guy with giant blue eyes. I'd choose comedienne Charlyne Yi to play me. Granted she's now thinner and comes off as more endearing than myself. She's an actress, though, so I'm sure she could pump up the paranoia and hostility needed to play me.

Update: I asked my husband if Charlyne Yi could play me in a movie, and spun around my laptop to show him her photo. His reaction? "OH MY GOD. Yes!"

I am now making an effort to note and remember words that are new to me. I usually come across new vocabulary when reading news articles. To make new words stick I have to read them and then immediately look up their meanings. If I don't do that, the words become, '...that D-word that means a place that is bad and ugly like in Blade Runner.' Pronunciation guides in dictionaries are amusing because how many English speakers actually understand them? They're like using hand signals while riding a bike. Riders can use them, but unless others understand what the signals mean they're pretty much usless.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Rod Man dished on his Mexican neighbors on Last Comic Standing, last night. He had me howling. I am moving to a ritzier neighborhood in Orange County next weekend. We're moving to minimize my commute to work. I'm already lamenting the loss of our working class Asian and Mexican neighbors (although many of the Asians drive like sh*t), the eloté cart that a couple occasionally rolls down our street, and being so far from our favorite fish taco restaurant.

We all have our favorite Robin Williams roles. They seem to vary by age. My twenty-something companions like the comic in Aladdin and Mrs. Doubtfire. I favor Robin Williams' quieter roles such as his portrayal of English professor John Keating in Dead Poets Society (1989) and real-life neurologist Oliver Sacks in Awakenings (1990). It's a shame Williams' internal pain and hopelessness reached the point he no longer wanted to go on. I'm thankful for the many characters he brought to life, and appreciate how he positively affected people across socioeconomic and color lines with his entertaining and philanthropy.

Actually, one of my favorite Robin Williams moments is one of his more physical ones.

"Felina," the Breaking Bad series finale aired in September 2013. The grand finale of five ridiculously intense seasons left me completely satisfied. I had no desire to read anything about the episode, the stars, or reactions from other viewers. This was the opposite of how I'd been operating as the AMC series progressed, scouring messages boards for posts by BB fans. However, after a year's hiatus I found myself taking great delight in Glenn Whipp's interview with Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and the show's stars Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston. The trio quips about what happened to Jesse once -- SPOILERS!!!! --he busted down the gates of the supremacist compound. They also discuss alternative fates for master chemist Walter White. My only bone to pick is I feel they exaggerated the threat Gale posed, but Gilligan is the show's creator and harbors in his mind the corners Gale could have turned given the chance.